Advocacy Committee

Co-Chairs: Cathy Greene and Susan Rhodes

1. Telephone, e-mail, fax, and write a letter to your Representative.

2. Use contact information from the following webpages: www.votesmart.org
If your Representative is on the House Appropriations- Secondary & Elementary Education Committee, go to http://www.ilga.gov/house/committees/members.asp?committeeID=578

3. The telephone call is the most effective measure. Even if you speak only to office personnel, and you are passionate, the information will be logged in and passed along to the representatives. Form letters have little impact. The telephone calls are quick and easy, taking less than 3 minutes.

Following is a sample phone call:

Hello, my name is ________ I am calling in support of HB 4044. I am supporting this bill because I am a parent of teacher of friend of gifted learners and know that funding is necessary for their academic progress. I want Representative _______ to know how important funding is for this special needs population of students and hope that he/she is not misled by the term gifted. Gifted learners are students who learn differently from the norm and because of this need specific funding. (This is the place to share a personal story. Then thank the person you are speaking to and ask that your support of HB 4044 be passed along to the Representative. Also ask the Representative to be a Co-sponsor of the bill. [cf. #10 below])

4. Get FOUR hits for each Representative: for example, telephone the local office, then follow up with a letter; telephone the Springfield office, and follow up with a letter. Your message will be tallied FOUR TIMES. Add e-mails and faxes to increase the number of hits.

5. In your message, request clearly, WITHIN THE FIRST TWO SENTENCES, support for HB4044 .

6. Identify yourself, district, city, school.

7. Tell how your family has benefited from gifted education. Be brief and concise.,

8. Keep this in mind: one representative on the Appropriations Committee advised that each member needs to receive at least 50 messages before a position is taken seriously. Help make that number.

9. If you want help formulating your message, check the IAGC website www.iagcgifted.org and http://www.iagcgifted.org/advocacy/index.shtml or e-mail Advocacy Committee Co-chair, Cathy Greene, for a sample script to use as a springboard for your own personal communication. Do NOT use it as a form letter; it will NOT be counted.

10. Even if your representative is not on the Appropriations Committee, ask your representative to Co-sponsor HB4044 . Any member of the House can co-sponsor the bill. They simply need to tell the chief sponsor (Elizabeth Coulson), who will complete and sign a form and file it with the House clerk. Co-sponsors can sign on any time after the bill is introduced. In other words, they can sign on now. Sometimes, if there are a lot of co-sponsors on a bill, it causes the legislative leaders to take note. It would be helpful to have a number of co-sponsors on the bill to show how important the issue is to the members.

Do this TODAY.

QUESTIONS? If you wish a response, please contact IAGC Advocacy Committee Co-chairs:
"Cathy Greene" E-mail
"Susan Rhodes" Email ,

"The great aim of education is not knowledge but action." - Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/96/HB/PDF/09600HB4044.pdf